Rockstar’s GTA VI drone and phishing claims explained in Glasgow tribunal

Rockstar Games says it installed privacy film on office buildings after drones were used to try to photograph through windows, according to a legal filing reported during an ongoing Glasgow employment tribunal hearing.

The account also attributes claims about phishing, social engineering and a dedicated leak-investigation team to Rockstar’s opening note. Game Developer reports that Take-Two Interactive supplied it with legal filings from the parties.

That provenance matters: the drone incident and current security measures are assertions Rockstar is making in a live dismissal case. They have not been established as tribunal findings or independently verified accounts of particular incidents.

What Rockstar’s reported GTA VI security filing claims

According to Game Developer’s account of the respondent’s opening note, Rockstar says it put privacy film on buildings after drones were used to try to photograph through office windows. The report does not identify who allegedly operated the drones, which buildings were involved or when the incidents occurred.

The filing reportedly says Rockstar employs five full-time investigators and a director to monitor and investigate potential data leaks. It also says employees face phishing and social-engineering attacks.

Game Developer reproduces Rockstar’s description of its security environment from the filing: The Respondent is subject to regular assaults on its security and systems. That is Rockstar’s characterization, as reported from its opening note, rather than an independent finding about the frequency or source of attempted attacks.

The filing also reportedly describes the commercial importance Rockstar places on keeping GTA VI’s design and gameplay confidential. That argument supplies context for the company’s position that trust and confidentiality were central to the dismissals at issue.

What Take-Two has independently disclosed about the 2022 leak

There is direct corporate confirmation that Rockstar suffered a serious security incident in September 2022. In its fiscal 2026 annual report, Take-Two disclosed that an unauthorized third party accessed and downloaded confidential information from Rockstar’s systems, including early development footage for the next Grand Theft Auto.

Rockstar’s newer tribunal submission reportedly connects that incident to phishing access involving an employee computer and internal Slack material. Take-Two’s annual report confirms the intrusion and theft of confidential material, but it does not independently confirm that more detailed account of the method used. It also provides no substantiation for the separate drone claim.

Why the security argument matters in the dismissal tribunal

The Glasgow hearing concerns competing accounts of why Rockstar workers were dismissed. The Independent Workers’ Union of Great Britain alleges that workers were targeted over union activity and that blacklisting was involved. In its announcement before the final hearing, the union said Rockstar’s position was that messages posted in a private union Discord channel breached confidentiality agreements.

Rockstar disputes the union’s account. A company spokesperson told the Guardian: Individuals across the UK and Canada were dismissed for gross misconduct following the sharing of confidential company information, not because of alleged trade union membership or activity.

The security claims therefore serve a specific purpose in Rockstar’s defense: they seek to establish why the company considers confidentiality risks serious and why it says alleged disclosures could damage trust. Those claims do not, by themselves, establish what was shared in Discord, whether it legally justified dismissal or whether union activity influenced the decisions.

What is confirmed and what remains unresolved

• Confirmed in a Take-Two filing: An unauthorized third party accessed and downloaded confidential Rockstar information in September 2022, including early footage from the next Grand Theft Auto.
• Reported from Rockstar’s tribunal filing: The company installed privacy film after alleged drone activity, employs five full-time leak investigators and a director, and says staff face phishing and social-engineering attacks.
• Disputed in the employment case: Rockstar says confidential information was shared and the dismissals followed gross misconduct. The IWGB alleges retaliation for union activity and blacklisting.
• Not yet decided: The tribunal had not ruled on the legality of the dismissals or resolved the parties’ competing narratives as of 12 September 2026.

The Guardian reported that the hearing was continuing before Employment Judge Lucy Wiseman and that Rockstar witnesses were expected to give evidence in October. Until a decision is reported, neither side’s account should be treated as the tribunal’s conclusion.

Grand Theft Auto VI is officially scheduled for 19 November 2026 on PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X|S, according to Rockstar’s game page. For a separate look at what verified company reporting says about the game’s commercial plans, read our coverage of Take-Two’s latest GTA VI financial disclosures.